Page 20 of Wait For Me

“What do you mean she fucked him?”

I told my mom what the messages from Mike had conveyed about Star and the married douchebag she was hooking up with.

“I don’t see Star doing that knowingly. She must not realize he’s a married man.”

“Whether she knows he’s married or not, she still fucked him after only knowing like a day or two.”

My mom laughed at me.

I stared at her like she lost her damn mind, because it was obvious to me that she had. When I didn’t say anything and only continued to watch her wearily, her laughter died down into light chuckles before she spoke again.

“Men!” She huffed, and the word was more accusation than anything else. “You all seem to think what is good for the goose isn’t an option for the gander of your choosing.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“That girl spent years saving herself for you. How many women were you with? How many did she have to see you with while she was living in that clubhouse? I’ve heard enough talk around town to know what you get up to boy, and let me tell you, your father would have been disappointed.”

“My father would have told me to sow my oats like any other man in the club does, but to take my commitments seriously.”

She hummed a response that sounded a lot like, “You’re full of shit.” Her eyes narrowed on me. “Either way, the girl waited for you.”

“Obviously not.”

“No, she’s done waiting, son. She waited and watched as you fucked around and fucked around. She was humiliated by you. The woman she’s become doesn’t know you had a change of heart after stalking her.”

I scoffed at that because I wasn’t stalking her. She was a job, security. Not some creepy sideshow I put myself on.

“Oh, my boy, it’s a hard pill to swallow to know you screwed things up and then to have to reverse rolls with the object of your affections. It’s your turn to watch and see her with other people. It’s your turn to wait, and if you ever want her to take you seriously, she’s going to have to see that you did just that. If you think you can continue on, business as usual, fucking all these girls and multiples at a time, Star will never take you seriously when she does make it back here one day.”

“We weren’t together when she had to see me doing those things,” I argued again, though even I cringed at my own idiotic logic.

“Yeah? What’s changed that gives you the right to feel any kind of way about her being with some other man right now?”

I opened my mouth to answer and closed it several times, because her point had been made and there was no argument for that. Instead, I continued to look like a fucking guppy out of water for a second before my enlightened mother spoke again.

“She might not be watching anymore, but I bet you word gets back through her Aunt Viv. Show her what you’re all about now. Maybe, she’ll come home to you sooner that way.”

6

Bagger

Two Months Later

“I promise you that I’m fine.”

“Mom, I want you to be sure. There’s no rush.”

The infuriating woman cocked her hip out and gave me a look that said I was full of shit without her having to even open her mouth. “Isn’t there?”

I just barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes at her. Nothing brought out the child in a grown man quite like his mother calling him out on shit.

“It can wait a little longer. It’s not like she doesn’t have a tail on her. Besides, from what I hear she’s kept herself plenty occupied.”

My mom’s hand slid up my cheek and she patted me there, like a child. “Son, my heart hurts for you that the woman you’re now interested in has found someone else to give her time too.”

“But?” I asked, knowing there was something she left unspoken.

“But, Son, let’s be honest. You deserved it.” My jaw dropped as my mother laughed at me. “I feel bad for you that it sucks, but after what that girl had to see you do,” my mother actually did roll her eyes at me, “you deserve to feel a fraction of her frustration. Besides, this is a good thing.”

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